I Have to Get These Characters Down or I Will Go Crazy..

Stratics Veteran

And I don't want to drive you guys crazy anymore too. I like you guys, much better than those ugly WoW forums. Maybe because some of us are "older" gamers and don't want drama anymore. I have made a couple posts before regarding my small "team" of characters. I have gotten some good advice. Unfortunately I have not been as specific as I need to.

At the risk of redundancy I will make my final post about the state of my characters and hopefully you guys can interject.

While reading this please understand that I have a small amount of O.C.D

Assume all my templates are 7x100. Some skills I might go 80 to fit 120, but I always use 7 skills. Please don't try to talk me into 6 skills. I like the jack of all trades feeling that 7 skills gives me. I also understand it limits my "maxing" capability.

I wont mention my Paladin or my Crafter. I am happy with them.

Jareth the Necromancer
This is my Necrofencer. He was an Advancer Character. I enjoy him very much. I love softening up monsters then finishing them off with my blade. I have been tempted to change him into a Sampire but my O.C.D. does not want to have him walk around in another form. I want the human form. Can a Necrofencer work in human form?

Almidar the Mage
This is my Mystic Mage. It took a lot to get Mysticism on him. Mainly because I hate having to stable a horse just to use RC. So I gave my Paladin's charger to this guy. He has room for another skill. I have had thoughts of combining Almidar with Jareth and moving Jareth's melee skills to Neji below, who wants to use fencing anyway. The question is, whats better or more important, whats more fun? A Necro/Mage or a Myst/Mage?

Valrek the Gargoyle
My new Gargoyle. The only real reason I created him was to have a Gargoyle. Right now he holds some bard skills. What to do? I have a cool outfit with a jester hat for barding but that is for human clothing. To be honest, I am not sure if I like a Gargoyle character. It is tempting to show up to a guild meeting talking like this: "to be honored", "To understand that this meeting is important"...etc.. I could always make this guy my Mystic/Mage and make Almidar a full bard, but that doe snot seem right. Almidar has been my mage from day one. I had this guy as a treasure hunter for a little bit with Mysticism. But again, I picture a treasure hunter being a greedy human character.

Discordance 51
Magery 70
Resist Spells 83
Musicianship 88

Velar
This is my placeholder character. I have 3 stones but he holds some other skills. He will be deleted in 2 days for Neji below. As you can see he has some treasure hunting skills

Neji the Ninja (New)
My son wants a ninja so I was wondering what build would be good with Ninjitsu? Is this build okay or can I add Bushido and drop Tactics or Anatomy? Is Bushido useless without Parry?

Ninjitsu
Hiding
Stealth
Fencing
Chivalry
Tactics
Anatomy

So there it is.

Should I suck it up and make my Gargoyle a Mystic/Mage Treasure Hunter? Should I make a new human Bard and delete the gargoyle? Can a Necrofencer be good in PvM, or will he be gimped? Do I combine my Necro and Mage to make a Necro/Mage, keep the Gargoyle as a Mystic T-Hunter then make a Bard? But what about Jareth? He has low Karma. If I combine him into Almidar that Bad Karma will be lost. If I combine Almidar into Jareth, he has low INT and is mainly a Dexer.

I'm no expert but one of the best ways to do treasure hunting (even solo stuff) is to have a mage bard. So, since you want a greedy human treasure hunter and you want Almidar to be a mage I might make him a bard/mage/treasure hunter and put the mysticism on the gargoyle (don't gargoyle's get a bonus to mysticism anyways? or is that only imbuing?)

You should check out the bard forums for some good templates but I think you could go this way:

music
provoke
disco (all 3 at 120 if you want to solo high level maps)
magery
eval
med
cart/lockpicking (basically you put cart on to decode maps then ss it and put lock on to actually do treasure hunt)

That is 7 (8?) skills like you want but you'll have to have some uber imbued skill jewelry to have char up at highest level for soloing. If you are happy with group hunting high level maps and only soloing low level maps then of course you can change the numbers to suit you. This template uses telekinesis to undo chests and invis instead of peace to save yourself. If you really wanted mining back in there I might drop the med and go for heavy MR and LMC on my armor or drop the eval and use "mind blast" and provoke for killing spawn. Put the inscription on your mystic I guess. That's my 2 cents. Good luck.

Stratics Veteran

I cant do T-Hunting without mining. It would drive me nuts. Its great to have mining. So how do you do a mage/bard/t-hunter with mining? Do you drop Discordance or Provoke? It seems to me that that barding takes up too much space because you need Music too. And for what? To debuff monsters? Cant mages do that already with Curse or is Discordance so much better?

Stratics Veteran

I cant do T-Hunting without mining. It would drive me nuts. Its great to have mining. So how do you do a mage/bard/t-hunter with mining? Do you drop Discordance or Provoke? It seems to me that that barding takes up too much space because you need Music too. And for what? To debuff monsters? Cant mages do that already with Curse or is Discordance so much better?

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Disco is so much better as it to not even be comparable. Also without provoke your not going to be able to even hope to do those maps alone. You would be better off dropping eval and only using magery for summons then get rid of provoke, but disco isn't absolutely necessary it just speeds things up.

Stratics Veteran

Disco is so much better as it to not even be comparable. Also without provoke your not going to be able to even hope to do those maps alone. You would be better off dropping eval and only using magery for summons then get rid of provoke, but disco isn't absolutely necessary it just speeds things up.

Disco is so much better as it to not even be comparable. Also without provoke your not going to be able to even hope to do those maps alone. You would be better off dropping eval and only using magery for summons then get rid of provoke, but disco isn't absolutely necessary it just speeds things up.

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Magery to summon what exactly? EVs?

Can EVs handle higher level maps later on?

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EVs cannot handle higher level maps (or at least not in my experience), that is why you need the provoke.

I understand your want/need to have 7 skills, but it will be really tight especially since you want mining (which I completely understand). You are going to need lots of skill items for high level maps. If you really want to do this, the following is as good of a template as I can think of. I would get rid of the eval (some will tell you to get rid of med, but it would be bad to need an invis and/or cure and not be able to because you do not have enough mana. Keep in mind, this is just my opinion from my experience, and I seem to have bad luck sometimes doing maps lol), pick up mining and keep the provoke.

I'm no expert but one of the best ways to do treasure hunting (even solo stuff) is to have a mage bard. So, since you want a greedy human treasure hunter and you want Almidar to be a mage I might make him a bard/mage/treasure hunter and put the mysticism on the gargoyle (don't gargoyle's get a bonus to mysticism anyways? or is that only imbuing?)

You should check out the bard forums for some good templates but I think you could go this way:

music
provoke
disco (all 3 at 120 if you want to solo high level maps)
magery
eval
med
cart/lockpicking (basically you put cart on to decode maps then ss it and put lock on to actually do treasure hunt)

That is 7 (8?) skills like you want but you'll have to have some uber imbued skill jewelry to have char up at highest level for soloing. If you are happy with group hunting high level maps and only soloing low level maps then of course you can change the numbers to suit you. This template uses telekinesis to undo chests and invis instead of peace to save yourself. If you really wanted mining back in there I might drop the med and go for heavy MR and LMC on my armor or drop the eval and use "mind blast" and provoke for killing spawn. Put the inscription on your mystic I guess. That's my 2 cents. Good luck.

Regardless of what you do with your characters, remember to take into account your equipment.

a.Your Necrofencer can be close to 800 skill points with the addition of decent jewelry, and maybe a few other items. Examples: Midnight Bracers or Arms of Tactical Excellence, dread pirate hat, etc.
I'd lose the magery, add Parry, and replace med with focus.
The only real requirements is that you need to get to 90 real points in Tactics and in your weapon skill (if you transfer Fencing to another character).

b. I'd be tempted to add spellweaving to your Mystic Mage. There certain synergies that result from Spellweaving plus the summons from Myst & Magery.

c. Treasure Hunters can be about any template, with the right equipment. I personally can solo Level 6s with a Paladin melee Treasure hunter (though death is common enough that I typically try to only do my Fel & Trammel maps where there are healers nearby - Tokuno, Ilshenar, Malas and Ter Mur typically aren't much a death risk, as they don't have GDs or AWs). The hard part is dealing with soulstones, as with now 3 skills required for the process, most people stone off cartography after deciphering maps, so that only 200 points or so are invested in mining and LP (as long as you're the first person to decode a map since its last reset or it spawned, you don't have to have Carto on you when you dig). To me, though, the only use of a gargoyle is as a Thrower.

I'd make the placeholder the T-hunter, and rework the garg into Thrower, perhaps even a mystic thrower or bushido thrower (or even a whammy thrower (bushido with low necro & high SS for wraith form & curse weapon - at least his ugly looks onscreen would be improved in wraith form).

d. As for the Ninja, the advice about equipment is valid here as well. You really don't need much stealth if your son sticks to cloth & leather (IIRC Shadow Strike requires stealth, and if so, the minimum real skill for that should be where he stops putting real points into it). Shadow Dancer Leggings and a Burglar's Bandana will let the character near 800 points without even counting jewelry. Special moves will require 90+ real weapon skill and Tactics (except for the ones that require poison or ninjitsu), but any amount over can be from gear. You don't need Bushido on the character.

In all, remember that the point of playing is to HAVE FUN. A "silly" template that is fun is infinitely better than a power template that bores you to tears.

Stratics Veteran

a.Your Necrofencer can be close to 800 skill points with the addition of decent jewelry, and maybe a few other items. Examples: Midnight Bracers or Arms of Tactical Excellence, dread pirate hat, etc.
I'd lose the magery, add Parry, and replace med with focus.
The only real requirements is that you need to get to 90 real points in Tactics and in your weapon skill (if you transfer Fencing to another character).

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I would never not have Chivalry or Magery on a character. Simply because I hate having to reply on charged runebooks, but maybe with some planning it can be overcome.. Can anyone charge a spellbook by dragging a recall spell into a Runebook? Being a vet, I should know this but I have been off and on for years..Wow, if I dump Magery, Med would have to follow. Focus can be learned quickly though...hmmm

b. I'd be tempted to add spellweaving to your Mystic Mage. There certain synergies that result from Spellweaving plus the summons from Myst & Magery.

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From what I read usually this comes down to Inscription vs Spellweaving. I love Inscription. For some reason I love making scrolls..I might just add Resist Spells. This guy is going to be a heavy duty PvM hunter. Meditation, Magery, Evaluate Intelligence, Inscription, Mysticism, Focus, Resist Spells

c. Treasure Hunters can be about any template, with the right equipment. I personally can solo Level 6s with a Paladin melee Treasure hunter (though death is common enough that I typically try to only do my Fel & Trammel maps where there are healers nearby - Tokuno, Ilshenar, Malas and Ter Mur typically aren't much a death risk, as they don't have GDs or AWs). The hard part is dealing with soulstones, as with now 3 skills required for the process, most people stone off cartography after deciphering maps, so that only 200 points or so are invested in mining and LP (as long as you're the first person to decode a map since its last reset or it spawned, you don't have to have Carto on you when you dig). To me, though, the only use of a gargoyle is as a Thrower.

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Yeah I am really leaning towards dumping my Garg and making a new human Bard Treasure Hunter. I even have a jester suit too. I mean, part of this is having fun and having a role. A Bard Tresure Hunter who is a real character with a jester hat sounds awesome. Discordance, Magery, Musicianship, Meditation, Provocation, Lock Picking, Mining (Swap with Cartography at home when solving maps)

In all, remember that the point of playing is to HAVE FUN. A "silly" template that is fun is infinitely better than a power template that bores you to tears.

I would never not have Chivalry or Magery on a character. Simply because I hate having to reply on charged runebooks, but maybe with some planning it can be overcome.. Can anyone charge a spellbook by dragging a recall spell into a Runebook? Being a vet, I should know this but I have been off and on for years..Wow, if I dump Magery, Med would have to follow. Focus can be learned quickly though...hmmm

So true.

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I run a character without eval or med so I know you can do it (mine is tamer sw and peace bard). But I do miss meditation often so I think its good you drop eval first and then meditation if you can't quite get the +skill from jewels. Remember also that there is a library talisman that will give +10 to bardic skills, my husband uses that to have a full mage/bard.

Yes, anyone can charge a runebook all you need to do is drag and drop recalls. Of course magery also has other good uses like curing and basic healing. I've heard in the warrior forum lots of people who use meditation instead of focus on a warrior because it gives you twice as much mana regen and that is often worth the loss of stamina regen (especially since there are many ways to get back stamina including divine fury and pots.)

And indeed, so true. My peace tamer with spellweaving is certainly not the "leetest" but I would never drop the hard earned 120 taming I got on her and I need peace to keep me alive as I'm not the world's best player and I love the utility of some of the spellweaving spells (especially gift of life in case peace fails me!)

Obviously this template relies on some specific equiment, but would effectively solo any level T-map with no soul stones required. If you are really set on 100 mining, you could drop your magery base skill some and add magery to your ring and braclet, however I find the 3 tile radius from 80 skill to be enough.

you can also load mining up find the spot to 5 or 6 and mark the runes then remove mining and add picking and go back and dig them from the exact spot...also you can do it with 0 mining once you get the method down it is pretty easy

Stratics VeteranStratics Legend

I honestly think you’re better off doing research on the profession forums and possibly testing things out on test center to come up with the templates you like. I apologize ahead of time if I suggest something that lies outside of your parameters. At any rate, here’s my take on your characters.

Necrofencer – Lots of drawbacks and few perks with this template, especially without using wraith or vampire form. Although necromancy doesn’t require spell channeling equipment, magery does. You’ll also need a fairly high mana pool to cast so many spells, meaning fewer points for dex/stamina and str/hp. Unless you go lower reagent cost, you’ll also need to carry 2 sets of regs. Probably your most useful necro spells will be wither, curse weapon and possibly animate dead. Melee damage will be low. If your suit allows, maybe look for damage increase jewelry, shield and talisman. Magery will at least allow another means for healing and your only way of curing unless you use potions and/or orange petals. The leafblade has nice special moves and might be a good choice. If you raise a skill to 120, I think it should be fencing. It allows a better chance of you hitting your target.

Mystic mage – I have both a necro mage and a mystic mage but I use them for different things. And they are both fun. My necromage is good at champ spawns for fast area damage (wither) and I also use her for hunting Merchant Ships. Since you lose karma for killing the merchants, I use her because she has low karma. For my mystic mage, I rely pretty heavily on rising colossus, a very powerful summons. A mystic mage is good in a lot of settings and therefore is pretty versatile. Since you don’t seem to be into raising many skills above gm, I wouldn’t go the mystic route. Stone form , colossus and possibly cleansing winds are better at 120 mystic/120 focus and I wouldn’t want to be only gm in both.

Gargoyle character – I have a gargoyle mystic treasure hunter which is both fun and profitable. Turn this guy into a mystic treasure hunter. Having said that, remember the difficulties at being 100 mystic/focus.
Placeholder – Delete and turn this guy into a full bard. I guess your template would be 100 magery, med, music, peace, provoke, disco and resist. I don’t know what you intend to hunt, but having all gm bard skills will make it interesting and/ or impossible. There are some monsters you won’t be able to bard, but you will have area peace and access to the masteries. You could test this out on test center.

A necro in wraith form can cast Recall 100% of the time with ZERO magery. So, when you need to go somewhere, you cast Wraith form, cast recall, then recast wraith form to go back to your human form at your destination.

No Magery or Chivalry needed.

For that matter, you could get one of the +15 magery spellbooks (or even a crafted one with +12), and jewelry with 15 on each, and be able to cast recall most of the time.

And, yes, anyone can put recall scrolls into a runebook, and about 7-8 years ago, they doubled the charge room in all rune books, and made it to where using the scrolls in a runebook succeeded 100% of the time (unless the rune is blocked or recalling not possible)

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